User:Rosenknospe/Sandbox

Story arc

Background

Darius was born in 120 bb in a nomadic tribe east of the Ural Mountains and raised in a herdman's tent. The only time he evoked his youth, he said, "When I was a young man, the first thing you had to do when introduced to a woman was compliment her father's horse." He died in 78 bc, fighting the Germanic tribes. In Highlander, Immortals realize their immortality when they return to life after having been killed. Usually new Immortals eventually meet an older Immortal who teaches them the rules of immortality. All Immortals are to fight and behead each other until there is only one left (this is called the Game) but they are forbidden to fight on holy ground, i.e. any piece of land or building held sacred by any religion. Darius' teacher was called Ahasuerus the Parthian.

Darius is next seen in 365, leading the Goths to invade the Diocese of Dacia.

Darius is next seen in 300-something AD, pillaging the border of the Roman Empire north of Dacia. There lived Grayson, who was killed in the battle and returned to life, becoming Immortal. Darius found him, taught him the rules of the Immortals and made him his second-in-command.(ref-hazy remembrance)

In 410, Darius and Grayson sacked Rome with Alaric's army.(ref)

In "Band of Brothers", MacLeod tells Richie how Darius became a man of peace. Fifteen hundred years ago, Darius could have led his armies across Europe and ruled for a thousand years, but he turned his armies back to become a peacemaker and Grayson felt betrayed. MacLeod then recounts, "The legend has it Darius killed a holy man at the gates of Paris. The oldest living Immortal at that time. And suddenly he changed. He turned his back on war." Richie rationalizes that the holy man's Quickening went to Darius and made him benevolent, the only known example of a Light Quickening. However, a deleted line from the script has MacLeod say: "Maybe what the Old One told him finally made sense to Darius", suggesting an intellectual realization of the horrors of war rather than the overwhelming positive power of the holy man's Quickening.

Then Darius and Grayson rode north to Paris. Darius fought Emrys and became good. Darius and Grayson separated.(ref)

At an unspecified time, Darius eventually settled in the rectory of an ancient church, the fictional St. Joseph Chapel in Paris. In "For Tomorrow We Die", Darius recollects having found St. Cloud hiding from the police in his church long ago. St. Cloud would have had to face guillotine for having stolen a piece of jewelry, which Darius commented was "hardly a crime to die for."

A flashback sequence in "Band of Brothers" set at the Battle of Waterloo shows how MacLeod encountered Darius. A British soldier, MacLeod carries a sick comrade when he meets Darius. MacLeod is eager to get back to fight, but Darius vehemently tries to show him the worth of human life and the futility of war. MacLeod protests that he always been a warrior, fighting battles he believed to be just. Darius counters, "Oh, I'm sure you're quite loyal to your convictions and compatriots. But I wonder what these men think about that, about convictions and compatriotism [sic] now?" MacLeod watches the snow-covered battlefield where men are dying, lost for words. Another flashback in the same episode, set at Darius' chapel in Paris in 1816, shows Darius facing three burglars. The chief brigand (Peter Diamond) stabs him to death for having no gold to steal. Out of the church, they meet MacLeod who defeats two of them. Darius, who has just revived, urges MacLeod to spare the third one, who flees. Darius is truly pained by the death of his own murderer, while MacLeod feels he has done well by ridding the world of a killer. He frustratedly admits that he is unable to follow Darius' teachings. Darius sadly realizes that MacLeod is leaving him to go to America, away from the hatred of Europe.

Character development

Darius was originally intended as a mentor for MacLeod. Executive Producer Bill Panzer explains, "Duncan MacLeod needed somebody to talk to, who was Immortal, who was significantly older than he was, and with whom he had some kind of epiphany-like experience in the past." In this respect, Panzer compares Darius to Ramirez, Connor MacLeod's mentor in Highlander. Creative Consultant David Abramowitz recounts, "We wanted to create a character who was once a warrior, who gave up warfare because he realized there were other things in life."

The script of "Band of Brothers" describes Darius as a monk with a "hideously ugly face", but when the producers cast the part, they chose German actor Werner Stocker, who did not fit this description. Abramowitz explains, "Darius, originally in the script, was written as almost to look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, to be physically ugly and with a glorious soul. And when I got to France, I noticed that they cast this young, handsome German actor named Werner Stocker. I said, 'Wait a minute. What's going on here? He's supposed to be ugly.' And it seemed that the Germans, who were putting up a great deal of money, didn't want the only German actor in the show to be ugly; so he wasn't ugly. And this was one of the cases where politics won out and it didn't hurt anything."

Panzer comments on Stocker's performance as Darius, "He had a kind of tranquility, but yet you believed that he could have been a great and brutal warrior." Abramowitz states, "He had an elegance, presence, and I was happy with the episode ["Band of Brothers"]." Associate Creative Consultant Gillian Horvath says, "Werner Stocker brought a lot to that role." Adrian Paul thinks, "[He] had a very ethereal quality himself and I think Werner played [Darius] very well." The promotional booklet reports that Darius was "played with soulful grace by (...) Stocker. Stocker was an instant hit with fans."

Despite his limited number of appearances, the character of Darius has an important moral influence in the show. Associate Creative Consultant Gillian Horvath remarks, "When he joined the show it was the first time that someone started talking about peace." Horvath explains, "The arrival of Darius, aside from bringing in a great character, represented the first time that someone questioned the basic premise of the show. The basic premise is that [MacLeod]'s a hero and he goes around kicking the ass of the bad guys. Now you have this character in Darius who shows up and says, 'Yes, but is it actually a good goal to kick the ass of the bad guys?' Even though Mac has to be a good guy who has to fight the bad guys, you set up this scenario where one of his closest friends has questioned whether beating up bad guys makes you a good guy or whether you should be a man of peace. (...) That underlying question shaped the whole rest of the series." Abramowitz says further, "It was a major moment for MacLeod. And it was the first time for him when he believed that the way of the warrior may not be the only way." Actor Adrian Paul (Duncan MacLeod) comments on Darius' moral influence on his character, "I think the role of Darius was a very important role in Mac's life. He was very significant in the turning points Mac had during his existence. He was one of Mac's teachers and therefore, the impact he had as a character was great, not only to Duncan, but also to the audience." Abramowitz summarizes, "Darius was the voice of God on the show, and then God died."

Associate Creative Consultant Donna Lettow says about Darius' character development, "It was always planned that Darius would die in [the season one episode] "The Hunters". The original plan for Darius was that he would reappear in flashbacks, much like Fitzcairn does now." Stocker's illness in early 1993 prevented this. Panzer remembers that Stocker "had annonced that he had a brain tumor." The season 1 promotional booklet recounts, "Just days before going into production [of "The Hunters"] actor Werner Stocker was stricken ill and was unable to work. By now the character of Darius had become an integral part of the story and the writers had to scramble to adjust the story line." Abramowitz recalls, "I got a call at three o'clock in the morning, saying Werner would not be available, we were shooting in a day and a half, and there was fear if we were going to have to shut down. I went into work, wrote twenty-five straight hours, without a break, and got out a script and the show went on and it turned out pretty well." This script bears the date March 15, 1993. The production crew, too, had to adapt to the situation. The promotional booklet reports, "Footage from previous episodes was successfully used to fill in for the absent actor." Stocker died on May 27, 1993. The episodes "Unholy Alliance" and "Unholy Alliance Part Two" are dedicated to him.

The consequences of those unexpected events are described in the promotional booklet : "The season finale went on to mark a huge shift in the Highlander saga, forever altering the future of the series with the introduction of "Hunters" and "Watchers"." The Watchers, a secret organization of mortals watching Immortals without interfering, appears in this episode for the first time and is featured in all subsequent Highlander series and movies, and Watcher Joe Dawson would become one of the main characters of the Highlander franchise.

Also, Darius' death would leave the show without a moral figure. This, Horvath explains, led the creative staff "to create wise, advisor-type characters to fill the void in MacLeod' life left by the death of Darius." Darius was the first thousands-years-old Immortal featured in the show. In this sense, Abramowitz states, "Darius was a forerunner to Methos, which is why we took Methos in a totally different direction."

Reception

Rob Lineberger of DVDVerdict.com: "Band of Brothers. Darius was the most ruthless of conquerors, on the cusp of reigning the world in darkness. But slaying an ancient immortal changed his heart, and he walked away from the sword about 1500 years ago. But his pupil Grayson will not let him forget. Grayson hunts down Darius' more noble pupils, with MacLeod at the head of the list. [review] If the series found a stride with "Eyewitness," "Band of Brothers" is an outright gallop. The episode is superlative. The action is riveting and the events have a deep underlying importance. Seriously, how often do we get a truly moving treatise on peace and unity in late night TV? The flashbacks, subplots, and mood all combine to serve the whole. There is dramatic, thematic unity. But above all, there is the uncertain resolve of Duncan MacLeod confronting an immortal 1000 years older than he—an immortal who has killed legions of men. [...] The Hunters. This episode is the turning point of the entire series, and it is not the writers' faults. The man who played Darius, Werner Stocker, died of a brain tumor. Unfortunately, they had to scrap the entire future of the series and whip up something completely different in 25 hours. Thus, we get the introduction of two groups, The Watchers and The Hunters. Personally, I do not like the idea, because it is unrealistic that a society of such complexity, knowledge, and secrecy could exist. (I know, it isn't realistic for immortals to be walking around giving each other head transplants either.) Rather than lament what could have been, I enjoy this episode for its macabre tenor and the fear of an immortal about to be beheaded without reason."

Abbie Bernstein of Audio Video Revolution: "Highlander: The Series turned out to have a ton on its mind and, as it wound up running for six seasons, plenty of opportunity to explore all sorts of permutations in moral conundrums. One big issue, introduced in Episode 13, the seminal "Band of Brothers," is, what if you’re an Immortal who absolutely refuses to fight, not from cowardice but from principle? If a fellow Immortal admires your ethics, is he then unprincipled if he does fight? [...] "Band of Brothers". For the uninitiated, this is probably the best episode to use as an introduction to "Highlander" Season One. Here we meet Darius (Werner Stocker), an Immortal priest who has spent millennium refusing to engage in the combat that engulfs his kind, and who is a mentor of sorts to Duncan. [...] "For Tomorrow We Die" nicely illustrates in flashback MacLeod’s attempts to incorporate Darius’ pacifist philosophies with living in the world, while the present-day story has MacLeod trying to track down an Immortal robber whose uses lethal gas in his crimes."